Encasa, 433 Pitt St

On Saturday night Elissa and I went for Spanish food. Encasa is a vibrant restaurant serving classic Spanish dishes in a homely environment. That menas it's busy, loud and serves lots of seafood, and the furniture doesn't match. But the food was really excellent - particularly the artichoke hearts and the chorizo a la sidra. We had those, potatoes in tomato and garlic sauce, stuffed olives, an omelette with spinach and a penne bolognese (it wasn't all Spanish) and the bill, including $5 corkage, came to about $56. That's about twenty five pounds in the old money. We almost sent it back to ask them to look at it again, but the phrase "excuse me, shouldn't you be charging us more?" sticks in my throat for some reason.

Of course, Elissa did spend most of the night being sick, but I think that's a bug that's going round, as I have a bit of a cold today, so I'm trying not to draw any conclusions from that. We'll go again. And if we end up feeling sick again, we'll know. If we don't, I can't recommend Encasa highly enough.

Herbie again

Herbie was playing in Sydney on Tuesday and Wednesday and I was sorely tempted to go and see him. He plays a mean show. What I did get that I didn't get in London, though, was excitement from the city that someone like him was visiting. Well, I mean he got a TV interview, anyway, which is more than he'd get in London. In it, he was asked as always about playing with Miles. (I'm the only one who would ask him about playing with Jaco, obviously. Or with the multitude of other people he's played with).

Miles Davis is a huge figure in jazz. To some, he's the only figure in jazz. People who own nothing but pop-rock-guitar stuff often turn out to have a copy of Kind Of Blue hidden away somewhere. Every major shift in what jazz is since 1950 has come either straight from Miles, indirectly from Miles or straight from someone who learned everything they knew from Miles. Herbie never gets tired of talking about him, as far as I can tell. He said "Most musicians would give their right arm just to be able to play some of Miles' mistakes; he was that good".

I'm still learning to play some of Herbie's bassist's mistakes. But I've got both my arms, and I've still got the $125 it would have cost to see Herbie again.

Ying Tong

Last night Elissa managed to get hold of two free tickets to see Ying Tong at the Opera House Drama Theatre. It was a story based around the Goons and Spike Milligan's descent into depression and mental illness. Well-acted, by excellent Goon impressionists with versatile voices almost up to Sellers and Milligan, and lots of energy, it was a great show to see at the end of a long day's debt-collecting. The Guardian, in a bid to be quoted on the poster, would probably have said "A rollicking ride through mental illness, Goon Show-style. If this is manic depression, count me in!". It was a little insensitive about mental illness in places, but no more than Spike himself was afterwards. As the Milligan in the play said, you have to laugh. He said that while recounting a tale from a dole queue, presumably from Spike's real life. He said the man in front of him dropped dead, from poverty and starvation. The guy behind him said "Must've got a job". So there were serious moments in among the laughs, enough to keep you thinking, but not enough to stop it being a fun night out. Highly recommended. 4 stars. (Do you think I'll get on the poster?).

Anzac Day

Anzac Day is the Australian version of Remembrance Sunday, I think. Only the Australians do it in style. They get drunk and gamble, and they actually get a proper day off and everything.

Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. I live just off Anzac Parade, so I was delighted to find out what an Anzac was. I was wondring if he was some former Governor like MacQuarie, as there were roads named Anzac, a bridge, an Anzac Day. I thought, he must have been illustrious to say the least. I was corrected eventually.

We spent the afternoon in the Civic Lounge, where we encountered a large pipe band. They wandered into the pub, just two pipers at first. Then they marched up and down the length of the pub, a half-dozen pipers, two drummers, two snare drummers and a bass drummer, and a man with a stick (every good marching band has a man with a stick). Afterwards they asked for money. It was quite a sight.

Later in The Light Brigade Brasserie, we saw a game of Two-Up being played. I still don't get the rules, but Elissa does - she came away $5 richer!

Band Camp 2007

Apparently it's an annual event. And apparently rarely involves much music. Ben's family farm is 4 hour's drive from Central Sydney, and right out on a turn-off from a dirt track. By the time we arrived it was 1am.

When we arrived, everything was rather panicked. Lucy, one of Ben's family's labradors, was in a very bad way - foaming slightly at the mouth, yelping and, shortly before we'd arrived, running round the house manically. Ben was holding her on the floor, but after a few minutes decided to drive her into Yass and try to find a vet. They got her into the car, drove to the gate and then came back, as Lucy had gone.

Later we deduced it must have been a spider bite, as Rosie, the other labrador, was up on a bench on the front decking and wouldn't come down. Ben, Clint and Ursh went to bed shortly after this, and Elissa and I stayed up, had a drink or two and played Uno, then went to sleep. It all felt pretty sombre, and we were all concerned for Ben, as we knew he was very attached to both dogs.

The following morning, I woke up to find a fire burning, fresh bread in the bread machine, and preparations underway to cook a breakfast on a hot plate over the fire. We feasted on bacon, eggs, mushrooms, toast, all cooked in the open air. Clint and I had a brief lesson in motorcycle use, and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing tennis and boules on the farm's tennis court. The sun came down as we sat in the kitchen, wrapping Moroccan-style kangaroo mince in puff pastry, ready for the wood-fired oven. Ben had also prepared some chicken in a chilli, lime and ginger marinade. We feasted, drank, and played a game of Balderdash, in which I learned that a hamfatter is a word for a bad actor, and not what I suggested it was (thanks to Chris for inspiration on that one, it drew in one of my opponents!).

On Sunday morning breakfast was just as incredible and we packed up and tidied ready to head home. Apart from a little guitar over Saturday's breakfast, flute duets on Saturday afternoon (Christmas Carols in April?) and a guitar-flute duet or two, the music hadn't really come into it, but it's up there with the old Big Band tours as one of my favourite musical holidays. Almost keeping up with Glastonbury in fact...

This one time, at bandcamp

I'm off to the countryside this weekend with Elissa, Ben, Ursh and Clint to make music and generally have fun. I'm very excited. Photos and stories on Monday evening.

You love that one, Barry

I've just seen my first advert for Easy-Off Bam. This link to Urban Dictionary explains the product more succinctly than I ever could.

Kitesurfin' Kitesafari

Today I went kitesurfing, nearly. Neil, my instructor and Cecilia, who was also learning from Neil, and I hopped on a jetski and headed out across the bay. We set up kites, I got a safety briefing and a run down on keeping the kite in good condition and then we launched. I learnt relaunching and keeping the kite in the air, and then Neil led me into deeper water where I got the kite to drag me along on my belly. Then I learned how to drag myself upwind to my board. By this point I was getting pretty tired, and Cecilia's kite had packed up, so she took over for a while. Neil said "Right, watch this". It was obvious Cecilia had done it before, and she picked up out of the water and disappeared on the board. Well, for a few seconds anyway - she soon ducked back into the water. The wind was a bit patchy, but I did get a couple of goes at getting up on the board, but to no avail, and neither of us ended up doing anything like the bloke in the picture. I need more practice at wakeboarding I think, and I'll get it. On the upside, I'm now the proud owner of an instructive DVD and a pretty good quality wetsuit, so I'll be learning from home while I save up for my next lesson. And if I can find someone with an old surfboard I can borrow, I might give the wetsuit an airing before it gets warm again in October.

Huge, massive, colossal thanks to everyone at Abel & Cole for clubbing together to get me the lesson. You'll be pleased to know that the 3 hours you paid for overran to 5, so you got excellent value for money. Rest assured I'll be getting value from it and actually getting up on that board next time!

Elissa's graduation, my kite surfing and my employment prospects

Today, Elissa received her Master of Applied Anthropology degree from Macquairie University. The University motto is "And gladly teche". I thought perhaps they should teche bettar Englich, but I later discovered it was a quote from Chaucer, and we all know his spelling was pretty dodgy. We were shown an aboriginal dance of some sort during the ceremony, which was a new thing for me. Afterwards Elissa's parents, her sister and brother-in-law, and her friend Bec came round for a few drinks and a meal. They were all very proud, and in good spirits. Elissa was exhausted, but I think she was pretty happy to see everyone, and pick up her certificate properly.

Earlier in the day I had organised a day's kite surfing, and set myself up for a job for the next two weeks. I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

Hawks Nest

This weekend I went to John Howard's favourite holiday town, Hawk's Nest. Elissa's parents have a house up there. It's a beautiful little seaside town up just beyond Newcastle, with lovely sandy beaches and sand dunes, beaches with surf, beaches with calmer waters for swimmers, and a golf course which seems to be the focus of the community. On Saturday afternoon, we arrived and headed to the golf club for a drink, and then headed home for dinner. Vivian, Elissa's mother, had put together an excellent lamb roast, and Col, Elissa's father, sat and talked about Australian and British politics while we waited for it to be ready. We drank a few bottles of wine between us, and played a game of Scrabble. (I've got the board in a photo somewhere, as a sly wink to a friend). Elissa's mum wasn't feeling well, so she went to bed before the game finished, but shortly after that, their neighbour called us and we went out to see a brush tailed possum feeding next door.

The following morning we went out onto the sand dunes. I've got a couple of photos of that somewhere (I really hope to add these later...). Elissa and I spent a very relaxing afternoon on the beach, including burying me in the sand and giving me a very shapely mermaid's body. We headed back to the house for dinner and then drove home.

John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, climbing the bridge, figuring out contemporary art and banging a drum.

So, last night I was dragged to see John Mayer. Well, not dragged, I had kind of agreed since before I knew who he was. For two reasons. I had confused him with John Butler (slightly cooler, I think, though it's hard to tell now I'm too old to be cool). I also heard he'd done something with Herbie Hancock, which makes anyone cool. Even seeing Beverly Hills Cop was made cooler by the knowledge that Herbie did one of the tracks.

John Mayer is alright. He's an excellent guitarist, if a little unimaginative in places. He's a fine singer, and a fine songwriter. In fact, I think he'd be a much happier musician (aside from the money and the Jessica Simpson thing) if he weren't so pretty. There were a lot of screaming girls there. I was one of five straight guys in the audience. Seven if you count roadies. And he does play a mean guitar. And he is a thoroughly nice guy. The sort you'd take home to your mother.

Today I went to Paddy Bedford's exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, for the second time, and I took the audio commentary this time. Much better. But I can't help thinking that contemporary art in Australia (and the world over) is only fascinated with Bedford's work because it's running out of ideas. The paintings are lovely, in a way, but they're really very very basic - large areas of bold colour and "composition" over an ability to create something spectacular. Maybe I'm missing a point about aboriginal culture, or maybe I don't understand art. In itself, it's a great exhibition to see, but if you hear about it anywhere outside Australia, it's because the rest of the art world is even less imaginative than I gave it credit for. (Art lovers, feel free to crucify me in the comments).

I also climbed up Sydney Harbour Bridge today, for which massive thanks go to Emma particularly, and to Ben, Paul, Rob, Guy and Caroline for their generous gift. The view from the summit was incredible, and to be up there as the sun went down was a privilege. It's one of those touristy things that is ok, cause it's something everyone visiting Sydney does, but it's something I'll remember forever.

I've just got back from a drumming evening on Bondi Beach. The police broke it up about 20 minutes after we got there, but we hung around long enough for me to poi myself in the balls. I met a chap from Leipzig who cooks a mean Goulash, and a man who used to repair elevators. With that to start it, who knows what this weekend will bring?

Killing Heidi, saving wallabies, eating cows raw

Yesterday, after a failed trip to Ikea, Elissa and I went to the Sydney Wildlife World. (Careful of the link, it plays sounds you might not be expecting at work). It was full of all sorts of wildlife exhibits with informative video displays and helpful guides. But if you're in Sydney, Taronga Zoo is much, much better value - it was really a bit of a disappointment. The bar underneath runs a happy hour from 5-7pm though, and is pretty pleasant. It's one of the cheaper bars in the area if you're in Darling Harbour looking for a drink at that time.

We then went to pass on the tickets Elissa had sold on eBay (we're seeing John Mayer tonight). I mentioned something about being able to step through a hole in a postcard, which, after 20 minutes of careful tearing and some cautious manouvres over the widest part of my body, earned me 50c. Then we headed to Newtown for japanese food. I had some sort of lunchbox thing with sushi, chicken, salad and rice in it, and Elissa had vegetable and prawn tempura. We shared some ginger and soy soaked raw beef. It was delicious, and excellent value - we both ate our fill and had a Coke for about $29. If I could remember the name of the place, I'd let you know so you could go yourself.

Afterwards we went to the Vanguard to see Jesse and Ella from Killing Heidi do an acoustic set. Apparently they've been around for a decade and have done something for one of the Spiderman films, but I'd never heard of them. This is a shame though, they're excellent, and this is the last time they're playing all that old material. If pushed to be critical, they weren't really doing anything anyone else isn't doing, and there are people doing it better, but it was a great way to while away a Wednesday evening.

Sydney to Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road and back

Apologies in advance for the hugeness of this post. I've been away from the internet for 10 days and I'm making up for lost time.

This Google Map link shows the road trip I've just completed with Elissa. It took in Jervis Bay and the whitest sand in the world, The Nobbies on Phillip Island (surprisingly like the Needles on the Isle of Wight), Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, the Twelve Apostles, the Yarra Valley wine region and, on Tuesday, a 9 hour drive back to Sydney. We saw eagles, fish, jellyfish, bats and fruitbats, lizards, koalas, kangaroos and, I think, echidnas, alive in the wild. We also saw the World's Biggest Merino, and the Giant Earthworm. I don't recommend the Giant Earthworm at all. It's rubbish.

Part 1 - Sydney to Melbourne


We left Sydney and headed south to Jervis Bay. On arrival it was already getting dark, cause we had set off later than we meant to. We checked into the hotel and headed to the local pub, where we had a few drinks and a couple of games of pool. Halfway round we decided that this was round 2 of an international England Vs Australia pool tournament, and so when Elissa won the 2nd and 3rd games, she went 1.5-0.5 ahead (since our two games in Herne Bay in the UK went one each). We're planning the third round in Singapore in September, if we can find a pool table. We waited for dinner outside the pub, in amongst the cockroaches, and then went back to the motel.


The following morning we visited some local beaches. At Chinaman's Beach we sat and had lunch and then went for a dip in the ocean. We hung around for a while but then we headed to another beach. A town further round the coast was called Bendalong, and I thought this was a pretty funny name so we went there. The beach was quiet and sandy, with very little surf. We saw pelicans nesting out on the rocks, and we headed over the rocks to see more wildlife. While we were out there we saw crayfish (or something similar) hordes of sea snails, some small silver fish, and orange triangular fish of some sort, and eagle overhead, and a lizard we still haven't identified. Back at the motel, the lady behind the desk told us that stonegrilling was the new local thing, so we went to try it. It consisted of a slab of raw meat being brought out onto your table on a slab of red hot granite. Elissa and I sat and cooked our own dinner and it was surprisingly tasty.


The next day we drove down to Eden, and booked in for two nights. On the way we met up with some of Elissa's relatives, who showed us round their area. Elissa's uncle talked about the local fishing, and showed us kangaroos, alive and dead. We had a quick bite to eat and headed on, with a couple of bottles of John's home brew. That evening in Eden, we headed to another local pub for dinner. They boasted of their unique stonegrilling dining experience, but we passed it up for a huge Chicken Caesar Salad and a Fish and Chips. The following morning we went to Eden's Killer Whale Museum! It was really very dull indeed, so we ended up playing hide and seek behind some of the exhibits. By 1pm we'd decided there really was nothing to do in Eden, so we drove on, abandoning our room only 10 minutes too late to claim a refund.


The next stop was Lakes Entrance, a few hours round the coast. It was a quiet little town with an excellent fish and chip shop. We ate more fish and chips, and watched the moon rising, blood red through the smoke from the bushfires.


The following morning we woke and headed out early (well, 10am) to get to Phillip Island before setting off for Melbourne. We arrived at the Phillip Island Grand Prix track (a mainly motorbike circuit) but they wouldn't let us drive round it. Maybe we'd have better luck in Albert Park in Melbourne? We also pressed on through the island to the Nobbies, where we took lots of photos.


Driving up to Melbourne, we passed the Giant Earthworm. We drove into the car park to see it but it was rubbish, so we left and pressed on.



Part 2 - Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road


We met up with Anthea at about 7pm at her place, and met her cat, Hunter. I haven't seen Anthea in about three years, she's an old colleague from Abel & Cole. We then headed into town and met Rob (who I also knew from London) and some of their friends in a bar. For dinner we went to this little Italian place up an unmarked stairway, that you'd only know was there if you'd been told. Anthea said it was one of the best places in town, but the service was terrible. Elissa had a sudden realisation she had been there before.


The food was excellent. The service was terrible. Afterwards we went to a bar and had some drinks and collapsed into the air mattress at Anthea's place at about 2am, after lots of little skirmishes with Hunter.


The following day we went for Souvlaki (Greek for kebabs I think) and looked at books. That afternoon we wandered round St Kilda and found lots of people kitesurfing. I was tempted to join in, but I'm hoping to learn with one school in Sydney, so it's consistent. We also managed to find some tickets to see Ross Noble at the comedy festival, that night.


Ross Noble has a highly improvisational style. Basically he talks crap for close to two and a half hours, but manages to tie it all together so it's hilarious. Oddly the only bit I have a strong memory of involves a bum-faced child and some escaped baboons in a zoo.


The following day we left Anthea and Rob's place (I'm hoping it won't be the last I see of them while I'm in the country...) and went along the Great Ocean Road to see the Twelve Apostles. The scenery was absolutely incredible all the way along, we saw wild koalas in the afternoon, and we saw the Twelve Apostles too. It was a long day, 12 hours in total, most of which was driving, but well worth it. That evening we met Nick and Andrea, who were our hosts for the next two nights.


The last day in Melbourne was spent on the beach in St Kilda again, and then we picked up a few bottles and stayed at home drinking. Nick and I played the guitar, Andrea got very drunk and Elissa tried to hide the fact she was singing. It was a great way to end our stay in Melbourne.


Part 3 - Yarra Valley, Araluen Lodge and the World's Biggest Merino


We left Melbourne for Yarra Valley the next morning, and by 3pm we were at our first winery. 4 wineries and 6 purchases later, we had tried around 20 different wines and seen some beautiful countryside. I'm looking forward to the next winery tour. Yarra specialises in Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, both of which I can recommend trying. After the sixth Pinot Noir we were getting a bit bored of them, but the whites were excellent, and we're looking forward to savouring our purchases later.

We managed to get good directions to the B&B we were staying in. Elissa had organised this one, but she said it wasn't that nice. So when we got there and the sign had more stars than you could shake a stick at, and was using the word "luxury" I was a little surprised. When I found out we'd booked the spa cottage (a cottage with a living room, bedroom and a luxury bathroom) I was even more surprised. Needless to say we had a great evening and a perfect night's sleep.

Breakfast was provided, with dried fruit, cereals, orange and apple juice, milk, tea, coffee (dried and fresh), bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, biscuits, fresh fruit.. you name it. By noon, when we checked out, we were stuffed. The drive back to Sydney was about 900km, and it took us from noon to about 10.30pm. On the way we stopped for dinner near the World's Biggest Merino - an enormous concrete sheep built purely so people will come and look at it, I think! By the time we were home we were shattered, and slept like babies right through til 9am the following morning.

The next road trip is up to Cairns around Christmas, and it should be even huger!

Sydney's first V Festival

V has been on for more than a decade back home, so it's a bit odd to have never gone in the UK, and to make it to the first one in Australia. Elissa was working with Australian Red Cross, so I managed to blag a free ticket for a big three-stage outdoor concert in Centennial Park. The lineup included Beck, The Pixies, The Pet Shop Boys, Jarvis Cocker, Soulwax, Gnarls Barkley... practically no Australian music, but lots of good imported stuff.

I'm not going to bother reviewing the music, except to say Beck was still doing his puppet show thing, and the Pixies did an entirely unpretentious four-people-on-a-stage-with-some-lights thing, and just relied on some excellent songs and a crowd who had waited nearly two decades to see them in Australia (this was only their fourth show in Australia - they'd never played here before this month).

Generally though, the weather was fantastic, the people I met in the crowd, or friends of Elissa, or colleagues at Red Cross, were very friendly and encouraging, and everything was pretty cool. I even managed to blag a VIP pass, which just got me into a bar with a marginally shorter queue, and a larger supply of beer. Good fun.